Boiler-feeder.



y 'PATENTED 00E-13, 19.03.'. M.- CASTELNAU. BOILEE EEEDEE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 15, 1902.

N0 MODEVL.

' UNITED STATES Patented October 13, 1903.

MARCELL'IN CASTELNAU, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

BOILER-FEEDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 741,459, dated October 13, 1903. Application filed September 15, 1902.v Serial No. 123,503. (No model.)

To all whom, itma/ycmcrn: u

Beit known that 'LMARCELLIN CASTELNAU, engineer, a citizen of the Republicof France, residing at 8 Rue Richepanse, Paris, in the Republic of France, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Boiler-Feeders, of which the vfollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to ay novel means for feeding instantaneous-vaporization boilers', as well as to divers devices for putting the said process into practice. feeding of boilers of this kind has been done by means of water-pumps operated by the engine and which force the water directly into the boiler. This means of feeding gives rise to serious inconveniences, of which I may mention especially the following: First. As the pump is connected `mechanically to the engine, it follows that the quantity of water injected and consequently the quantity of steam produced tend to decrease when the engine having a greaterresistance to overcome operates more slowlythat is to say, just at the time when the production of steam ought to be greater. Second. An auxiliary pump has to be operated by hand each time the engine and consequently the main pump are stopped. Third. The strokes of the piston of the pump have the effect of ram-strokes, which very much increase the wear and tear of the boiler and the driving mechanism. Fourth. The water injected intermittently and directly by the piston of the pump passes across the boiler in lumps, Vwhich have not always the time to be entirely transformed into steam, so that large quantities. of water are carried along. To avoid these inconveniences, which have been very prejudicial to instantaneous -vaporization boilers in preventing them from becoming general, l have devised to feed thesame by means of compressed air or other compressed gas, which is inclosed with the feed-water in a closed receptacle and which yieldingly forces the said water into the boiler through a suitable pipe. I can use either an air-pump,which compresses the air in the closed reservoir after the water has been introduced into the latter by any suitable means,or a water-pump,which forces l5o the water into the reservoir after the latter `has been filled with air, or preferably a double Heretofore the pump, which forces simultaneously the water and the air under pressure into the reservoir. By this process the quantity of water introduced into the boiler at any time becomes quite independent of the rate of Vspeed at which the steam-engine is running, and it can be regulated with the greatest ease by means of a simple cock and made to register with the power to be developed by the engine. Again, the feed becomes equally independent of the pressure yand the temperature which prevail in the boiler, for the pressure and the temperature of the gas and the water in the feed-reservoir are themselves independent. In the third place, as the pressure is main tained in the feed-reservoir, even when the engine is stopped for a considerable length of time, the operation of an auxiliary pump by hand becomes unnecessary. Fourthly, as the introduction of the'water into the boiler is effected in virtue of a yielding pressure and continously all irregular feeding is done away with as well asthe wear andtear and the carrying forward of water which follow. Besides these essential advantages, my novel process'offers quite a special character in that it allows of charging the feed-water with comp through a strangulated ajutage in order to facilitate the disengagement of the dissolved gas, and thus produce a sort of pulverization of the water. i

The accompanying drawings. show diagrammatically and by way of exampleone form of devices by which my improved procv ess of feeding can be put into practice.

-Figure 1 is an elevationshowing the plant taken altogether. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of a pump sucking simultaneously bothwater and air. Fig.v3 is a vertical section of the .ICO

ead of a member of the boiler. Fig. 4 shows a modified form of the device for mixing the Water and air. Fig. 5 is a section of a pumpplunger.

The plant shown in Fig. l comprises an instantaneous -vaporization boiler 1; a feedreservoir 2, containing Water and air under pressure; a pipe 3, with a cock i connecting the lower part of the said reservoir With the boiler; a pump 5, which forces Water and air into the reservoir 2 through a pipe 0, and a steam-engine 7, so fitted as to operate the said pump.

The pump 5 is only operated at more or less frequent intervals and as the engine-driver may think it to renew the pressure in the reservoir. Aftera stoppage of less or greater length of time of the ruiming of the engine or the boiler the pressure, which is maintained in the reservoir 2 since the previous period of running of the boiler, allows the latter to be fed With Water Without the necessity of using any pump at such time. All that need be done is to open the coeki more or less to regulate the passage of the Water from the reservoir to the boiler, such passage being the result of the pressure in the said reservoir, which is greater than the pressure in the boiler. One can thus obtain at any time as plentiful a feed as may be desired.

The novel type of pump shown in Fig; 2 is specially fitted to force simultaneously air and Water into the reservoir2. It comprises a fixed plunger-piston S, on which slides a pump barrel 5, Which constitutes itself the rod of the driving-piston 9, movable in the iixed steam-cylinder 7. A fl y-Wheel 10,1nounted on the crank-shaft 11, which is rotated by the rod 0 by means of the connecting-rod 12, regulates the motion of the parts. In the piston 8 are provided two pipes 13 and 1li, the inner ends of which are arranged to receive the former a suck-Valve 15 and the latter a force-valve 15. The pipe 1 3 is connectedwith a suck-pipe 17, which in turn is connected With another pipe and cock 18 for the incoming Water and also With a pipe and cock 19 for the incoming air. The pipe 14 is connected with the force-pipe 6, which extends to the feed-reservoir. \Vhen the piston 9 is put in motion, it carries along with it the pump-barrel 5, and thus produces,alternatively the suction through the valve 15 of a mixture of Water and air and the forcing of the said mixture through the valve 1G. The proportions of the Water and the air in the mixture can be regulated by means of the cocks 18 and 19. By this simultaneous suction of air and Water I obtain the dissolution of a great part of the air in the Water, and this dissolution continues in the feed-reservoir, so that the feed- Water forced into the boiler contains in solution a rather large quantity of air. The result is that under the combined action of the heat and a certain detent produced by means of the ajutage 20, (see Fig. 3,) the orice of which is smaller than the cross-section of the passage of the vaporizing member 21, the air disengages itself rapidly in the form of bubbles and operates a minute division of the Water as the latter escapes from the ajutage. The vaporization of the Water thus sprayed in the member 21 is consequently rendered very rapid.

It must be essentially understood that I may vary the means to produce the dissolution, or the mixture of the air in and with the feed Water and to produce the spraying or the pulverization of the Water in the Vaporizing member Without in any Way changing my invention.

I may, for instance, produce the mixture of air and Water in causing` the Water to be sucked through a pipe 22, (see Fig. 4,) provided With a nozzle 23 at its lower part and Within Which opens a pipe 24 for ltaking in air and which is provided with a regulatingcock 25. I may also modify the pump hereinbefore described in making use of two distinct suck pipes 26 and 27 and of a single force-pipe 28, these pipes being provided in the xed plunger-piston, as shown in Fig. 5.

While the type of pump described seems to me advantageous on account of its being both compact and simple, I reserve to myself the right of using to force the air and water toward the boiler any other pump and even any other suitable mechanical means, the essential point being that the air and Water shall be introduced together into the boiler in becoming sprayed or pulverized immediately in order to render the vaporization more rapid.

I claim- 1. The co1nbination,With an instantaneousvaporization boiler, of a closed reservoir, of a pipe and cock to connect the said reservoir with the boiler, and of a pump connected With the reservoir, the said pump comprising a iixed plunger, longitudinal channels, suck and force valves located on the inner ends of the said channels, a pipe for sucking Water, a pipe for sucking air, a pipe for forcing the mixture of Water and air, a pump-barrel movable on the fixed piston, and means to move or operate the pump-barrel.

2. The combination,'\vith an instantaneousvaporization boiler, of a fixed reservoir, of a pipe and cock to connect the said reservoir with the boiler, and of a pump connected with the reservoir and comprising a fixed plunger-piston, a movable pump-barrel, a movable steam-piston iixed to the pump-barrel, a iixed steam-cylinder, suck and force pipes arranged in the plunger, valves on the said pipes, and means to distribute the steam in the steamcylinder alternatively on one side and then on the other.

3. A boiler-feeder, consisting of a closed reservoiradapted to be connected with a boiler, and a pump, comprising a fixed plunger-piston provided with longitudinal passages hav- IOO IIO

ing yalves at their upper ends, one of the In testimony that I yclaim the foregoing as Channels being connected with an air and a my invention I have signed my name in pres- Water supply and the otherl with the reservoir, ence of two snbseribingwitnesses.

' a sliding barrel on the plunger-piston, a steam- MARCELLIN CASTELNAU.

cylinder surroundingone end of the barrel, Witnesses:

and a piston on said barrel Within the cylin- MAURICE ROUX,

der, as set forth. EDWARD P. MAGLEAN, 

